When we first bought the house, there was this sickly, little, sad looking tree in the yard. It was in such poor shape, we didn’t even know what it was at first. We thought about giving up on it, but let it be in hopes that it would survive. Well, it did survive, and in fact has flourished. It’s actually getting a bit out of control. Besides that, it happens to be a wonderful subject for the camera –

Another, albeit not very good, shot for perspective –

So, there’s the Japanese Maple in the back yard.